I had so much fun making my December 2021 reading journal. I decided to go all out for the last month of the year. So let’s check out my Deck the Halls theme.
Cover Page/TBR Page
I bit off more than I could chew with my cover page. I had this idea to make a fireplace with garland on the mantel, because that’s my favorite part of my house to decorate. And our chimney is brick, so of course, I wanted a brick chimney. So I took some brown and red acrylic paint and mixed together to make this brick red. The hard part came when I decided to outline each individual brick with my Micron Fineliner. It took me almost an hour, but I love the way it turned out.
The next page was substantially easier. I couldn’t do a Christmas spread without a Christmas tree. So again, I used my acrylic paint to paint the tree, the skirt, and the red garland. Then I outlined everything with my Micron Fineliner. I used a metallic silver sharpie to fill in the book titles on the tree. Initially, I wasn’t going to add the stars, but for some reason the next page bled through in one spot. So I used my Finetec metallic watercolors to add the golden stars. It doesn’t come through in the picture, but they’re so metallic.
Reviews Page/Wishlist
On my reviews page, I used acrylic paint to paint presents with a giant red bow-like object on top. I can’t make a bow in real life, so it makes sense that I can’t paint one either. Obviously, this page is blank at the moment. I caught up on my arc reviews for a minute. I don’t know if I’m going to accept any in December, because of how busy we’ll be. But I guess I’ll just see where the mood takes me.
Normally, I have a books bought page here, but I’m trying not to buy books this month. And in the spirit of Christmas, I decided to write my wishlist. Usually, when someone asks me what I want for Christmas I forget anything that I’ve ever wanted. So now I have a reference to help with my on-the-spot memory loss. Now, obviously, my real life wishlist doesn’t have a green blob over it. I just marked it off, so I don’t spoil a post that’s coming next week. Be sure to subscribe below for all the Christmas fun.
Books REad Page/ Wrap Up
You can’t decorate for Christmas without Christmas lights. So I made some to border my books read page. This was really simple. I just used a green fineliner and my Finetec metallic watercolors. It really does sparkle like lights in person.
Lastly, for my wrap up I had to include a stocking. I used acrylic red to paint the stocking then the metallic white watercolor to paint the fluff. I love the different textures that this page has.
So that’s my Deck the Halls theme for my December 2021 reading journal. I broke out of my normal routine for this spread and I really love it. I used to like a very uniform, almost formulaic spread, but I think I’m ready for something new.
